Past Events by Year
September 2022
- Workshop
Animal Mobilities
Organizer(s)AddressMax-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Contact and Registration
For further information about this event, please contact Tamar Novick (tnovick@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de) or Lisa Onaga (lonaga@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de).
June 2022
- 13:30 to 15:00
- Colloquium
Revulsion as Prevention: Emotional Science and the Mobilisation of Sensibility in Late 19th-century Russian Public Medicine
- 15:00 to 20:00
- Lecture
Scientific Questions Then and Now: Matter
Contact and Registration
The event is open to all interested. If you would like to attend, please register with Anina Woischnig (sek.krause@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de). Please note that as this is an in-person event, the number of participants is limited and registration is necessary (first come, first served). Online attendance is also possible; the Zoom links for each session will be circulated in advance to all registered participants. The event will be recorded and made accessible for the public.
Address
This is a hybrid event. It will take place via Zoom as well as the Main Conference Room of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin).About This Series
How are scientific questions posed and answered by scientists, from premodern times until today? Despite radical changes in world views, the apparent persistence of certain recurrent questions in the history of science is striking: examples of such questions include “Where does the world come from?”, “What is it made of?”, “What is life?”, “What is consciousness?”, or “Is the world knowable?”
Our speakers’ series “Scientific Questions Then and Now” seeks to understand the extent to which such recurrent questions have in fact remained “the same”. One key goal of this series will therefore be to determine whether there is, or is not, any core notion of science that remains constant from premodern times to the present, a core notion that would allow for meaningful discussion and communication among representatives of different historic traditions of science.We will bring together contemporary scientists with historians of premodern philosophy, to ask whether some of these recurrent questions may still be relevant to contemporary scientific research and practice.
- 14:00 to 15:30
- Research Workshop
The Plague in Yunnan: Rats and Missionaries at the End of the World
Organizer(s)AddressMax Planck Institute for the History of Science, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany
RoomZoom/Online Meeting PlatformContact and Registration
For further information about the LMRG Research Workshop series, specific sessions or registration (a limited number of places are available), please contact Ching-Yang Lee (chlee@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de).
About This Series
The LMRG Research Workshop is a venue for members and guests of the Lise Meitner Research Group, "China in the Global System of Science," to share work in progress on an ongoing basis. It is an opportunity to raise questions, discuss methodological challenges, or get feedback on preliminary conclusions. We aim to create a supportive atmosphere that combines rigorous criticism with genuine curiosity.
- 13:30 to 15:00
- Colloquium
Religious Contexts of Discourses on Nature: The Comet of 1577 in Early-Modern Germany
- 14:00 to 15:30
- Institute's Colloquium
Historicizing the Reproducibility Crisis
Organizer(s)AddressMax Planck Institute for the History of Science, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany
RoomZoom/Online Meeting PlatformContact and Registration
This event takes place online. A number of places are available to the public—please email public@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de by June 13, 2022 to register. For further information about the program, please contact Lara Keuck (lkeuck@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de).
- 12:00 to 13:30
- Reading Group
Scientific Experience and the Scientific Expert II: The “Layperson,” “Common Person,” “Public,” “Non-Elite,” “Non-Scientist”
Contact and Registration
Contact to register for HE Reading Group: twietecha@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
About This Series
This reading group explores the theme of premodern experience by making use of and adapting the approach of historical epistemology (HE). We will discuss how different primary and secondary sources have treated the epistemic status of experience and the roles of experience in gaining scientific knowledge, applying scientific knowledge, building a scientific system, or becoming a scientist, and why they have done so. In so doing, we will discuss how the tools of HE can help us shed light on the roles of experience for scientific knowledge and how, in turn, these primary sources help shape a modified HE for the history of premodern science and beyond.
- 15:30 to 17:00
- Lecture
Orientation and Organization of the Zodiacal Image in the Roman Empire
- Dept. III
- Fabio Spadini (Freie Universität Berlin/ANHIMA Paris)
- Visualization and Material Cultures of the Heavens in Eurasia and North Africa …
- Image Database: Visualization and Material Cultures of the Heavens
AddressMax Planck Institute for the History of Science, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany
RoomZoom/Online Meeting PlatformContact and Registration
The meetings will take place on Zoom. The event is closed to the public, but MPIWG members are welcome and may register by emailing: brentjes@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
About This Series
The goal of the lecture series is to complement the image database that we have created over the last years by topic and region-specific lectures related to the history and culture of astral knowledge.
- 15:00 to 16:30
- Seminar
Crazy Standards: The WHO and the Rise of Descriptive Psychiatry
Organizer(s)- Lara Keuck
- Steeves Demazeux
AddressMax Planck Institute for the History of Science, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany
RoomZoom/Online Meeting PlatformContact and Registration
The seminar series is open to all. To receive the zoom link, please email Birgitta von Mallinckrodt (OFFICEKEUCK@MPIWG-BERLIN.MPG.DE).
About This Series
This research seminar is hosted by the Bordeaux-Berlin WORKING GROUP ON TRANSLATING VALIDITY IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH and brings together historians, philosophers, psychiatrists and biomedical researchers.
May 2022
- 14:00 to 15:30
- Institute's Colloquium
“Can We Trust Science from China?” Observations around the Ascent of a New Power Player
AddressMax Planck Institute for the History of Science, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany
RoomZoom/Online Meeting PlatformContact and Registration
This event takes place online. A number of places are available to the public—please email public@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de by May 28, 2022 to register. For further information about this event, please contact Anna L. Ahlers (office-ahlers@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de).
Organizers
LISE MEITNER RESEARCH GROUP- 12:00 to 13:30
- Reading Group
Scientific Experience and the Scientific Expert I: The Scientist
Contact and Registration
Contact to register for HE Reading Group: twietecha@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
About This Series
This reading group explores the theme of premodern experience by making use of and adapting the approach of historical epistemology (HE). We will discuss how different primary and secondary sources have treated the epistemic status of experience and the roles of experience in gaining scientific knowledge, applying scientific knowledge, building a scientific system, or becoming a scientist, and why they have done so. In so doing, we will discuss how the tools of HE can help us shed light on the roles of experience for scientific knowledge and how, in turn, these primary sources help shape a modified HE for the history of premodern science and beyond.
- 13:30 to 15:00
- Colloquium
Depicting Time: The Visualisation of the Planetary Deities and the Seven-Day Astrological Week in the Graeco-Roman World
- 15:30 to 17:00
- Lecture
Science in Practice: Astronomical Instruments in the Islamic World
- Dept. III
- Taha Arslan (Istanbul Medeniyet University)
- Visualization and Material Cultures of the Heavens in Eurasia and North Africa …
- Image Database: Visualization and Material Cultures of the Heavens
AddressMax Planck Institute for the History of Science, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany
RoomZoom/Online Meeting PlatformContact and Registration
The meetings will take place on Zoom. The event is closed to the public, but MPIWG members are welcome and may register by emailing: brentjes@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
About This Series
The goal of the lecture series is to complement the image database that we have created over the last years by topic and region-specific lectures related to the history and culture of astral knowledge.
- Workshop
Global Interference? Science and Foreign Policy Interactions in China
AddressMPIWG, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany
RoomMain Conference RoomContact and Registration
While the event will be an invitation-only internal workshop that centers around the in-depth discussion of article manuscripts, there will be limited space at the institute for on-site participation. If you would like to attend, please get in touch with Dieu Linh Bui Dao at office-ahlers@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de.
- 13:30 to 15:00
- Colloquium
Ignorance and Its Resources: China and Beyond
- Dept. III
- Several Speakers
- Anna Lisa Ahlers
- Emily Mae Graf (FU Berlin)
- Chun Xu
Contact and Registration
This will be a hybrid meeting, taking place in Room 265 and via Zoom. To register, please contact Chun Xu (cxu@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de).
- 12:00 to 13:30
- Digital Humanities Brown Bag Lunch
Software Use in AnonymClassic
Contact and Registration
Please contact Pascal Belouin (pbelouin@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de) for further information.
About This Series
Brown Bag Lunch is a meeting of researchers at the MPIWG who use or want to learn more about digital research methods, broadly encompassed by the term Digital Humanities. In the Brown Bag Lunch meetings, researchers can discuss tools, share ideas and experiences (good and bad), and learn from each other. Each session explores a new topic; workshops are usually interactive, and we often invite external speakers. Please feel free to bring your lunch, and a laptop or notebook in order to participate!
- 12:00 to 13:30
- Reading Group
The Senses in Science and the Sciences of the Senses II: Loss or Lack of Sense and Sensations
Contact and Registration
Contact to register for HE Reading Group: twietecha@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
About This Series
This reading group explores the theme of premodern experience by making use of and adapting the approach of historical epistemology (HE). We will discuss how different primary and secondary sources have treated the epistemic status of experience and the roles of experience in gaining scientific knowledge, applying scientific knowledge, building a scientific system, or becoming a scientist, and why they have done so. In so doing, we will discuss how the tools of HE can help us shed light on the roles of experience for scientific knowledge and how, in turn, these primary sources help shape a modified HE for the history of premodern science and beyond.
- 15:30 to 20:00
- Lecture
Scientific Questions Then and Now: Space
Contact and Registration
The Lecture Series is open to all interested. If you would like to join a session please contact Anina Woischnig (awoischnig@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de).
About This Series
How are scientific questions posed and answered by scientists, from premodern times until today? Despite radical changes in world views, the apparent persistence of certain recurrent questions in the history of science is striking: examples of such questions include “Where does the world come from?”, “What is it made of?”, “What is life?”, “What is consciousness?”, or “Is the world knowable?”
Our speakers’ series “Scientific Questions Then and Now” seeks to understand the extent to which such recurrent questions have in fact remained “the same”. One key goal of this series will therefore be to determine whether there is, or is not, any core notion of science that remains constant from premodern times to the present, a core notion that would allow for meaningful discussion and communication among representatives of different historic traditions of science.We will bring together contemporary scientists with historians of premodern philosophy, to ask whether some of these recurrent questions may still be relevant to contemporary scientific research and practice.
- 15:00 to 20:00
- Lecture
Scientific Questions Then and Now: Time
- Max Planck Research Group (Premodern Sciences)Max Planck Research Group (Final Theory Program)
- Several Speakers
- Julian Barbour
- José S. Baracat Jr.
- Karim Thébault
- Sajjad Rizvi
Contact and Registration
The Lecture Series is open to all interested. If you would like to join a session please contact Anina Woischnig (awoischnig@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de).
About This Series
How are scientific questions posed and answered by scientists, from premodern times until today? Despite radical changes in world views, the apparent persistence of certain recurrent questions in the history of science is striking: examples of such questions include “Where does the world come from?”, “What is it made of?”, “What is life?”, “What is consciousness?”, or “Is the world knowable?”
Our speakers’ series “Scientific Questions Then and Now” seeks to understand the extent to which such recurrent questions have in fact remained “the same”. One key goal of this series will therefore be to determine whether there is, or is not, any core notion of science that remains constant from premodern times to the present, a core notion that would allow for meaningful discussion and communication among representatives of different historic traditions of science.We will bring together contemporary scientists with historians of premodern philosophy, to ask whether some of these recurrent questions may still be relevant to contemporary scientific research and practice.
- 13:30 to 15:00
- Colloquium
The "Ecological" Origins and Consequences of the Rodent Bait Station